Description of the attraction
Preparations for the construction of the main Siberian stone cathedral took almost three years. From Moscow they sent permission to use the peasants in construction, but not in the summer. They also sent a sample according to which it was necessary to build a church. The temple was built by experienced Moscow masons in alliance with the artel of the Ustyug builders. Construction began in 1683 and finished in 1686, in the same year the first stone church in Siberia was consecrated. The cathedral was initially called the Assumption Cathedral, but later it was renamed Sophia Cathedral.
The temple is located on the top of the Troitsky Cape and a stone vzvoz goes steeply down from it. In 1751, the Zlatoust side-chapel was added to the northern facade of the cathedral, and the cathedral sacristy is located in it.
From the Italian culture of the Renaissance in the St. Sophia Cathedral, one can see the geometry of the cubic volume, and the completion of the temple and the decor of the facades are made in the Old Russian style. Here you can feel the influence of the traditions of the Russian "pattern" and the initial forms of the Naryshkin Baroque. Perspective portals, multi-blade tops of platbands - all these details made the building of the temple elegant with decorative features. For example, on the wall of the southern facade, you can see four types of platband finials. It is known that at first the heads of the temple were bulbous, but in 1726 they were replaced by more complex ones with interceptions at the base like the Ukrainian ones.
The interior of the Sophia Cathedral is typical of a large four-pillar church. Initially, the interior of the cathedral was not painted, but soon the walls of the temple were covered with frescoes. According to some reports, their author was the famous painter Roman Nikitin, who was exiled with his brother to Tobolsk after the death of Peter I. In the middle of the 19th century, the frescoes were covered with oil painting, but soon a decision was made to restore the fresco painting.
The doors of the main entrance to the temple, lined with metal panels, are a real example of ancient applied art. Wonder animals and wonder birds are represented on these panels.
On the south side, the building of the cathedral sacristy was added to the St. Sophia Cathedral in the 1790s.
